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i swot of hon john m clayton of delaware before the great whig con vention held at wilmington del on the lath june him or attempt to drive him back ; though if i must express my opinion i think his freight will be swamped among the fens of salt river there comes another fel low with horses attached to a cumbrous machine moving on skids outside of which you may see the protruding muz zles of a whole battery of cannon and the inside of which is filled with ammunition guns drums and trumpets and all the par aphernalia of war that fellow is full of fight and wants to go to war with eith er mexico or england or somebody else he is not very particular with whom he wished to put all that freight inside of our wagon ; but when we satisfied him we had not room for the fiftieth part of it he agreed to bring it himself with his own force and i am not willing to drive him back or quarrel with him about his whims for although he like the others has his peculiar notions yet he as well as they is in favor of our carrying every article we have in our wagon and desires to ac company us as far as he can to defend and protect it yonder comes another fellow tottering under the weight of a knap-sack filled with treatises on polem ical divinity and a thousand sectarian controversies he ardently implored us to give room in the wagon for all that luggage ; but he was assured that if one half his tracts should be read on the road instead of proceeding in harmony togeth er there would be a general fight among the whole company ; after which when catholic and protestant had pommelled each other soundly the company would be separated into religious factions and would never reach their place of destina tion he was informed then if he would take along his knap-sack he must bear its weight and keep its contents to himself as the only tracts allowed to be carried in the wagon or disseminated on the march are those which inculcate religious toleration in its widest and most liberal sense and breathe no other spirit than peace on earth and good will among all men of all sects classes anel denominations i can sec also let me add a rival train with another wagon behind all these toiling hard to overtake ours and bound for the same country ; where they mean to settle as squatters for four years to come if they can reach it before us this wagon is a heavy lumbering vehicle be ing but a clumsy attempt to imitate a cel ebrated carriage which came into fash ion about the year 1800 the horses are old political hacks many of them being spavined and wind-broken and most of them sorely distressed with the thumps a disease contracted by them on the long journey up salt river four years ago â€” inside of this wagon you may see ponde rous safes and chests of iron upon which the brazen capitals are plainly legible the sub-treasury seperates the govern ment from the banks anel the people from their own money on many of these mas save chests we read hard money for the office-holders and bank rags for other people on the top of all them they seem to have piled ossa on pelian as if they designed to put all texas upon wheels including parts of the mexican states of santa fe chihuahua coohuila and tamaulipas ; the whole crowned with the texan tlebt of untold millions by the side of which on the other package you may read no assumption of our own state debts by our own government but the heaviest weight of all presses on the dri ver's box : where you may see james k polk of tennessee holding his nags four in hand ; while george m dallas sitting j by his side vainly plies a hickory gad to j the excoriated flanks of the jaded animals the driver sits on a cushion of enormous weight labelled free trade every part of this vehicle is of foreign manufacture the very wood of which it is made is of i foreign growth â€” even the horse shoes | were made by english blacksmiths ; the i harness is all manufactured out of eng lish leather by english harness-makers ; i all the wheel-tire the axle-trees and even the bridle-bits were imported from liver pool no american laborer whether na tive or naturalized was allowed to drive a nail into this wagon strapped up in the boot behind you may see a broken \ treaty with mexico covered over with i that black flag which mr butler in the late baltimore convention predicted would prove the funeral pall of a certain j concern whenever it should abandon the \ principle that a majority should govern a band of discarded office-holders and office '. hunters surround the wagon shouting at : the top of iheir lungs for free trade , and texas hard money and james k ' polk there is a little fellow the editor of a paltry newspaper blowing a penny j whistle labelled doun with all corpora ; tions while another of the same profes i sion grinds a hurdy-girdy to the old tune of bargain and corruption and the murdered coalition near these is another of the same trade riding on a donkey while he drums on the dead hide of the bank ofthe united states behind these comes off a concerto in which you may hear the praises of harmonivus de mocracy chanted amidst every variety of sound from the twanging of a jews-harp to the thruming of a banjo whether this assemblage shall ever proceed fur ther on their journey than that serbonian bog which lies near the sources of salt river i leave others to'conjecture pha roah pursued the israelites till he was swallowed in the red sea i feel too ; good natured just now to foretel the des tiny of james k polk and his followers but jesting apart let me return in all sober seriousness to the true question as i have already stated it â€” protection or no protection for the country â€” bread or no bread for the laborer it is no part of my ' purpose to discuss that question at length to enable others to understand it i have only to refer them to the last article in | the march number of blackwood's mag ; azine we may there learn how eng 1 lishmen reason among themselves when discoursing on follies of the visionary doctrine of free trade ; and we may also learn from it how much credit we should â– attach to articles of a contrary import written by englishmen for the american market english periodicals written for the purpose of being read by american \ citizens have done more injury to the cause of the american laborer than any equal number of publications on the same subject which have appeared in our coun ' try in connection with this subject my : â€¢ fellow-citizens let me say that there are not wanting in the ranks of our oppo nents men who have been bold enough to charge henry clay and theodore fre ; linghuysen the chosen champions of whig principles with having abandoned the protective policy by their votes for the compromise act of the 2d of march 1833 it is my duty to defend these my ! ; old associates in the public councils a j gainst so unjust an accusation ; and that ! , duty becomes peculiarly imperative upon j \ me when inquiries are constantly ad j ; dress to me as they have been of late in 1 ! regard to the true character of the votes ! | which they gave on that memorable oc 1 i casion i cannot answer all these inqui j 1 ries by letter i will therefore this day : : attempt to answer them here ; for i see j " a chiel's arnang us takin notes and faith he'll prent em ;" and i have reason to hope that his report ! of what i am about to say may reach those \ 1 who have addressed these inquiries to me i was in the senate at the time of the passage of the compromise act was a member of the committee which reported ! : it and had the best possible opportunity ' of knowing the motives and objects of mr \ clay in the introduction and passage of ! that measure his aim was not only to i prevent a civil war and the dissolution of â– the union but to save the protective ro \ licv i am convinced that but for the i i passage of that act the protective system j would have been substantially repealed ! more than ten years ago and every man ! ufacturer in the country dependent upon 'â– it stricken down i know that nothing is more common i than for us to hear certain individuals who j j are utterly ignorant of the real circum j : stances which existed in the early part of ; the year 1833 in a spirit of idle bravado \ boasting bravely they would have defied ' the threats ofthe nullifiers â€” how resolute 1 they would have proved themselves had the opportunity been offered them in hang ] ing up all the leaders of that faction and j how rejoiced they would have been in ad ministering through the swiftly willing ! agency of general jackson a salutary : castigation to what they term " the imbe : cile arrogance and bullying of south car olina these and similar remarks are : generally made for the purpose of intro | ducing a condemnation of mr clay for his agency in the passage of the compro mise act which they say was a sacrifice of the protective principle to prevent a i war with the nullifiers without doubt ing the courage or the sincerity of those : who thus often boast of the superior firm ness and more manly bearing which they : would have exhibted at that crisis i will endeavor briefly to show you that these gentlemen are ignorant both of the effect and meaning of the act as well as of the '. objects sought to be secured by its author it is quite a common error that the act 1 itself proposes a horizontal tariff of 20 per cent on all articles of importation as the minimum rate of duties and the final resting place at which the reduction of duties proposed by the act shall cease and stand unchanged and unchangeable forever at this day gentlemen of intel ligence professing to understand and dis cuss the legal effect of this act often speak of it as a law the great object of which was by a system of gradual diminution to reduce the duties as they stood under the act of 1832 to an universal levie of 20 per cent at the expiration of nine years and four months in other words regarded the compromise act as fix ing one rate for all dutiable articles from and after the 30th of june 1812 that rate being 20 per cent ad valorem ; and as containing certain binding stipula tions or pledge on the part of the authors of that law that no higher rate of duty should ever after that day be collected by the general government this supposi tion preposterous as it is you have doubt less observed is an opinion quite common ly expressed and that too by grave legis . lators on the floors of congress that the ; enemies of mr clay should have so ex i pressed themselves is a matter to be re ; gretted but when the friends of the tar i iff and the very men who profess the ut â€¢ most confidence in the rectitude and con â€¢ sistency of that great statesman fall into : the same error it is high time their mis take should be corrected it is perfectly true that the first section ! of the act fixes 20 per centum ad valorem ! as the lowest rate at which dutiable articles : should be admited after the 30th of june j 1842 ; but the third section of the act pro : vides that from and after that day duties '. upon imports shall be laid for the purpose | of raising such revenue as may be neces j sary to an economical administration of 1 the government ;" and also that such du ties shall be assessed on the home valuation and payable in cash the leading princi ! pies established by the act were first that : after the 30th of june 1842 a sufficient : revenue should be raised from import du ties alone to defray the expenses of the government ; â€” secondly,that no more rev enue should be so collected than should be demanded by an economical administra tion of the government ; thirdly that the best possible guards against frauds on the tariff should be established by the adop tion of the new system of assessing the duties on the home instead of the foreign value and making those duties payable in cash â€” whether these duties from which all the revenue for the support of govern ment was to be derived should be fixed at 20 per cent or at 50 per cent or any oth er rate was of course a subject left for the future consideration and action of con gress whenever it should be discovered that the minimum rate of 20 per cent adopted by the first section of the bill was insufficient for the support of govern ment nothing was further from the in tention of those who passed this law than to attempt to prevent further legislation discriminating with a view to home la i bour in the contingency of a defect of revenue from duties of 20 per cent i have ever regarded the tariff passed by the congress of 1842 as a substantial com i pliance in most respects with this pledge in the compromise act with this excep tion only : â€” thut law while it levies duties | on imports to support the government looks j to the proceeds of the sales of the public lands as an auxiliary for that purpose ; ; while the compromise act gave to me as i thought when i voted for it and to every other friend of the protection sys ; tern at the same time a solemn assurance ! that alter the 30th of june 1842 the : land fund should cease to be regarded '< as a source of revenue and that all the real wants of the government should be i supplied exclusively from duties on im ports assessed so as to prevent frauds and 1 payable in cash to understand this subject as it really \ was understood by those friends with whom i acted in the passage of the compromise \ act it is necessary to recur to some other proceedings contemporaneous with it mr i clay's bill to distribute the proceeds of the i sales of the public lands among the states | which passed both houses of congress a | bout the same time with the compromise i itself was by us regarded as part and par j eel of one great revenue and financial sys : tern which we desired to establish for the j benefit of the whole country while tem ! porarily surrendering the land fund to j the states to which it rightfully belong ! ed in the judgment of the congress of ' 1833 we provided in the compromise act | that there should be a day fixed at which in accordance with a suggestion previous ! ly made by general jackson himself the i land fund should forever cease to be re garded as a source of revenue by the gen â– eral government it is true that we should have acted more wisely as the event prov j ed by incorporating the provisions of a distribution bill in ihe compromise itself , but who could have supposed at that day '. that president jackson would have vetoed a bill which carried out his own sugges tion ? nevertheless he defeated that great and salutary measure of distribution by means which no end can ever justify he refused to return the bill with his objec tion to the house in which it originated i â€” unquestionably because he had reason ; to believe that had he complied with this . his constitutional duty each branch of congress stood ready by a vote of two thirds to make the bill a law in spite of his veto i have said that the tariff of 1842 is in my view a substantial compliance in most respects with the principles of the compromise act and the pledges given in that act on the subject of the regulation of duties from and after the 30th of june 1842 but it was not a compliance in all respects in my humble judgment had the tariff of 1842 been passed strictly in the spirit of the compromise itself it would have been a better tariff for protection that the law in force it would have bet ter guarded the revenue against frauds in the foreign valuation ; and it would more effectually have checked excessive impor tation which is one of the greatest curses of our country the distribution of the land fund among the states contempla ted by the compromise and temporarily provided for by the land bill would have put an end to the agitation of the ques tion of protection for ever ; and the prin ciple avowed and sustained by mr clay that in laying duties for revenue discrim ination should always be made in favor of protection as an incident to re venue would 1 have been the settled doctrine of the coun try to show that this opinion is well found ; ed let us suppose that congress on the ; 30th of june 1842 had resolved to make â€¢ a tariff strictly in pursuance of the com â– promise the latter directed that after : that day and not until after that day du ties should descend by a rapid reduction i not of 10 per cent but of the last half of j the w/tole excess above 20 per cent left af : ter the 31st of dec 1639 and that reduc tion be 20 per cent on the home value of i the imports unless at that time tbe reve | nue from rate of duty should be inade ! quate to support the administration of the government now how stood the facts on that day ? we had actually incurred a national debt of more than 520.000,000 | at that very time under the operations of j ; a higher tariff than 20 per cent and that ' too with the aid of all the land fund and ! bank stocks and bank dividends besides j ; our revenue had sunk so low that the j credit of the nation was at that very mo ] ment in the most deplorable condition â€¢ ' we had borrowed on that credit till for eigners would not lend us another dollar ' and in our own market the g per cent cer j titicates ofthe loan redeemable in twenty ! | years could not be sold to any considera ble amount for any thing like their par : value we had approached the very j verge of national bankruptcy and but for the whig revolution of 184u which had elected a whig congress to decide our | fate we should at that moment have been i in imminent peril of national repudiation i the depressed state of public credit was one of the contingencies anticipated by the friends of mr clay at the passage of the compromise and we now know we are , right we foresaw that the duties never could descend to 20 per cent if that pledge to raise the duties to the standard of the ! wants of the government given in the i act should be fulfilled ; and our hope â€” our , belief was that before they could descend by the operation of the law to 20 per ' cent men of all parties seeing that the i government could not be supported on ; that principle would confess old errors and join with us under happier auspices in so adjusting the tariff as that while i the wants of government would be sup ! ' plied from import duties ample protection i as incident to the revenue would be freely ] accorded to us without further strife if ' then congress had at that time raised the duties to the standard then fixed by the ] \ compromise we should have had a tariff i 'â– which would more effectually have pro j tected home labor than the act of 18 12 : because although the duties would have ; been for revenue with only incidental pro tection the very principle of the act of | 1812 yet those duties without the aid of other sources of revenue would have been . still higher than those of 1812 and their collection better guarded against frauds but the compromise act caused a grad : ual reduction of duties until the 30th of ; june 1842 and the question remains to '- be answered â€” *' why did the friends of protection to home labor consent to such a reduction even for a limited period l the answer might be a very short one l'nder the circumstances in which we i were then placed it was palpable to the i minds of those who voted for the compro ; mise that unless we accepted that ave should have to submit to the speedy de ' struction of the whole manufacturing ____- . terest but it is due to the subject that ; in the answer to this question the circum â– stances to which i have alluded should be briefly explained at the time of the pas \ sage of this law the violent opposition of ; many of our fellow-citizens in the south and of not a few elsewhere to the whole protective policy was unparalleled in the history of this country south carolina by her ordinance of nullification had openly defied the general government and resolved that no duties should be col lected within her limits it is easy at this day after the storm has passed over to speak of her resistance as a thing which could have been easily crushed by the ex hibition of a little firmness 1 have never doubted nor do i believe that mr clay or any of his friends ever doubted that the power of this government was amply suffi cient to enforce for the time the collection of the duties on imports in despite of all the threatened hostility of south carolina and all other enemies of the protective policy but it is due to truth to say that at that time south carolina had many , sympathisers and not a few adherents in other parts of the country we were ev ery day in danger of a collision which might terminate in bloodshed ; and in that event any man tolerably-acquainted with the american character could anticipate quite as well as i can now describe the imminent danger of a protracted and bloody contest which if it did not endanger the union as i firmly believe it would have done must have rendered the protective system hateful to our countrymen as the exciting cause of a civil war and incapa ble of being maintained except by the butchery of american citizens by ameri can hands 1 never did and do not now believe that any such system can be long maintained in a government bke ours if it cannot be upheld without a civil war the friends of the compromise in the firm belief that the protective policy was enti tled to the confidence and support of the american people and would grow up and establish itself in their affections if a vi ', olent civil strife could be avoided desired j of all things time â€” time for reason to resume her empire â€” time lor the vio â– lent passions of men then inflamed to the very verge of insanity to subside ; and they consented to a grandual reduc ' tion of duties for a limited period with a view to the ultimate safely of the protec tive principle itself as well as to avert the horrors of a civil conflict and to save the excited and deluded men who were rush ing into these extremities from the conse quences of their own folly in the midst ol all these considerations then pressing upon the attention of the friends of pro tection there was another staring us in the lace which is too often forgotten or overlooked at the very commencement ofthe session of that congress which pass ed the act president jackson in his an ' nual message threw off the cloak of a injudicious tariff and openly arrayed the whole power of the executive against the protective then for the first time we j heard from him the declaration that mex : perience our best guide on this as on oth | er subjects made it doubtful whether the advantages of this system are not counter balanced by many evils and whether it i did not tend to beget in the.minds of a large portion of our countrymen a spirit of discontent and jealousy dangerous to the , stability of iw union ;" â€” that a taritf de , signed for perpetual protection had enter j ed into the minds of but few of our states ; men and that the most they had anticipa i ted was a temporary protection ;" and j that those who took an enlarged view of j the condition of our country must be sat j isfied that the policy of protection must â€¢ be ultimately limited to those articles of , domestic manufacture which are indispen ' sable to our safety in time of war these and manv other declarations against the existing tariff in the president annual message almost instantaneously arrayed the : mass oi his party against the protective jtolicy â– throughout the whole country lt required no gifted seer to predict its late if some concilia ; tory measure were not speedily adored by its iriends to allay the existing excitement the ! president's message against the tariff was i communicated to congress at that session on ! the 4th of december and with such expedition ; did his party in the house of representative act on that occasion iu pursuance of his sugges : tions that on the 1-e-tli ol the same month the , committee of ways and means reported a bill to repeal the existing tariff and in lieu there of to collect a revenue of but 12,500,000 by ; all imposts on foreign merchandise the average ' duty on which as proposed in tbe l>ill was a unit ig per cent and that to be assessed ou the for eign valuation this hill which w as sometimes called mr ycrplanck's bill but which was real ly a measure emanating from the executive xvas actually far advanced uu its passage in the house at the lime the compromise was under consideration in the senate ; and its final pas sage in the house xvas no longer problematical ' it xvas a measure which if successful could not fail to prove au immediate death-blow to the whole protective policy its passage had been forced through the committee ofthe whole on the state ofthe union alter an ineffectual ef fort by the friends of american industry to im pede iis progress : w hen on the 2'dd of febru i ary 1833 the fiiends of protection in the sen ate made the last effort in their power to arrest ' its downxvard tendency and to stay for s long a j time as possible the hand xvhich xvas extended | for its destruction at that critical moment the j question jl<r them to consider xvas not mkrklv how mich l'hotk hon xvas nelt.ssakv fob ; homi lvkolk 111 t how ml ch ok it coill bk : sated the bill ill the house backed as it was by the power ol the executive and the pub lic sentiment in its favor daily increasing in consequence ofthe president's denunciations of the then existinj tariff might be temporarily ar rested by the action of a few senators ; but those very senators saw that unless some com promise could be effected xvhiie they retained their slender aud very precarious majority iu the senate the ultimate triumph ofthe destruc tive system aud that too at no distant day xvas inevitable time can never efface my vivid remembrance of the anxious responsibility felt by myself and ! those who acted w ith me at that moment i did ; not rely upon my own judgment alone nor up on that of my associate in th senate lor the course 1 should adopt i sought the advice of j one who xvas a citizen of my own state and i xvho stood at the time at tin head ol lhe manu ! tacturing interest ofthe country â€” a man xvhose â€¢ extensive and minute acquaintance xyith the i xvhole subject ofthe tariff was not exceeded by ' that of any other man in the nation â€” one who i had embarked largely in manufactures himself , and who was deeply interested for other manu facturers and xvithal one whose exalted char acter as a man ot pure patriotic and honest pur pose xvas unsurpassed i refer to the late e.j ! du pont ol the brandywiae at my solicita tion he came to washington to advise with me | on the subject and afier felly weighing all the circumstances which surrounded us anxiously advised me to accept the compromise and to exert myself to procure its passage he ex pressed strong apprehensions that we could car ry the compromise in the face ofthe rival mea sure which off red better term to the enemies of protection in the house : and when i npre ' sented to him that those who bad been ibreat ened with a rope by the president xvould pre â€¢ 1<t our bill to the biil in the bouse on account ofthe paternity of the latter the possibility that . we might lor a time arrest tb passage of any bill in the senate â€” and the deep solicitude i*-it ' by the nullifierg to procure some measure of ; immediate relief to save them from the conse quences of their own lolly ! he expressed the highest gratification at the prospect of th pas i sage ofthe compromise as tin only means len ! of preserving the principle to the maintenance ! of which he had devoted a great pari of i.i own useful life his judguu at on ili subject con tinned my pinions and i owed him while he j lived a debt ot gratitude for bis assistance on ' that occasion which although i never had it in | my power to repay yet have i never failed ei ther before or since his lamented death to ac knowledge thus assured nÂ»j feeble aid xvas | freely given to tha great measure ; which while ' it saved the tnanufecturing interest from sudden ! and utter destruction soothed and conciliated the i angry passions of men then ready to rush upon *: revolution and bloodshed ; and gave ample tim * to the friends ofthe protective policy to rally in ite support before the dearest interests ol the ', country could be fatally affected any attempt i to withstand and repel the flood then rushing p j on us would hav bee fruitless it was clear '; that we should be swept awav bv tl torrent ! we preferred to divide to divert an.i to retard ' it and i then thought and still think that the ; mightv effort of mr clay on thatfxrcasion w â– â– save his favorite measurefiom the danger n a ii threatened it from even quarter was ibe m m triumphant act of his life | after a most exciting debate on the mentsol ! the bill a great part of which was never pubsafc the carolina watchman broer & james ) _ i keep a ciif.ck upon all your editors sf proprietors j is safe ( new series rclers do this ajfd liberty < .Â»- _______ gen'l harrison ( number 11 of volume i fixtow-crnzens : mi chief objecl i have in view in tins lav addressing vou s t0 cal1 back your attention mid thai ofthe counlry at large in n the many distracting topics which now agitate the public mind to the great est of all ill issues involved in the presi dential election the great question to he decided by lhal election is a question of bread a question whether wc shall abandon the whole principle of protection extended to tin laboring classes of this country by the tariff act of 1842 and i iopi/iii lieu of it a tariff discriminating fo revenue and against protection a question whether we shall go back by 001 own voluntary act to that state of ni.-tl vassalage which existed in this country while england held us in subjec tion and lur statesmen boasted that they svould not permit us to manufacture a bob-nail for ourselves â€” a question wheth r shall now surrender to england i if the most essential blessings result ing from that independence for which the whigs ofthe revolution successfully con . tided to every reflecting mind it must apparent that hut few subjects can be ided to the satisfaction of a majority â– ihe people al a single election and it . hi old trick of designing politicians to scape defeat upoh subjects in controvcr .\ ntalh affecting the country by mul tiplying the issues p be decided distract ing the attention ofthe people and divi ding the majority on the dreaded ques tions by others of inferior importance rinse ire hit tricks of all the enemies of whig principles ofthe presentday those gentlemen ire well aware lhat a vast majority of the freemen of this country . decidedly hostile to the modern free tnel doctrines and as decidedly friendly in tin whig tariff of 1812 embracing i tli whig principle of protection to home f .â€ž.)<>_ with their new democratic doc ! trine of fi tr-friiilc all the leaders among 1 tliein are conscious that they cannot go ro trial before the country without incur ting inevitable defeat within the past rear the friends of the protective policy liav every where routed their opponents when this question has been raised in the lections our friends have unfrocked tl.e partisans and advocates of british in terests iu this nation they have torn the nasks from all the faces of those who pre fer english to americahlabor theshecp , kins have been stripped from their backs and the wolves now stand out in their naked deformity to insure our triumph in this great question our friends have at last adopied a determination upon which our welfare eminently depends to reject with scorn alliance with or assistance from all cow-boys and such as pretend to occupy a neutral position between the contending parlies ou this question this is a subject upon which the american people can no longer be deceived by pre tended friends or by enemies and at this moment you seethe foes ofthe a merican system conscious of their ap proaching destiny if the two issues shall besubmitted to the people a.re,every where endeavoring to direct public attention from it toother subjects presented for the purpose of exciting popular feeling let us guard against the wiles of our adver saries our situation at this time may be compared to that of a large family a bout io emigrate to the west we have on wagon belonging to our concern with an excellent team attached to it we can carry in it all that is really necessary for our safely and our happiness but we cannot carry every thing which the ca price or fancy of every member of the family may induce him to throw into it il we suffer every one to pile in among , our necessaries of life all the trumpery which he may have purchased to carry with him we shall soon find lhat there is nut room enough for a hundredth part of it and that one team is utterly unable to haul it in this state of things the only course left us as sensible men is to re strict the freight in the wagon to such things necessary to our safety and com fort as we can certainly transport but wc mill leave everyone who thinks he lias got the means ol transportation in dependently of us to lug along what he ileuses and we will promise not to fall out by the way or quarrel with any friend who may choose to go the journey with us because he thinks proper to load him self down wiih articles which we are un able or unwilling to carry the wagon anil the whole cavalcade are now before me about to start for the west henry flay the driver knows the road well and by his side sits theodore frelinghuysen who is a good guide and experienced tra veller himself inside ofthe wagon 1 see ihe proceeds of the series of he public lands with duties laid for protection to home-labor a sound currency an econom '<'"/ administration of hie government and divers other good articles necessary for our safety antl prosperity but there goes a fellow behind driving an unbroken colt in a cart of his own filled up with texas bonds und texas land scrip as he wishes to go along with us we shall not dispute with him about his freight though 1 think he will not drive his cart over the fountains this year there comes lanoth '!' nn u tugging in the rear with a wheel barrow loaded down with two hundred pillions of government serin to new off the totc debts he is a good fellow in the main and a,m decidedly in favor of our taking along ery article in the wagon but will bl ip n his peculiar notion that these state j*m list go in company with us ; and o k u u'orks on 1,is own lloÂ°k at llis vft harrow i shall never quarrel with salisbury n c july 13 1844

i swot of hon john m clayton of delaware before the great whig con vention held at wilmington del on the lath june him or attempt to drive him back ; though if i must express my opinion i think his freight will be swamped among the fens of salt river there comes another fel low with horses attached to a cumbrous machine moving on skids outside of which you may see the protruding muz zles of a whole battery of cannon and the inside of which is filled with ammunition guns drums and trumpets and all the par aphernalia of war that fellow is full of fight and wants to go to war with eith er mexico or england or somebody else he is not very particular with whom he wished to put all that freight inside of our wagon ; but when we satisfied him we had not room for the fiftieth part of it he agreed to bring it himself with his own force and i am not willing to drive him back or quarrel with him about his whims for although he like the others has his peculiar notions yet he as well as they is in favor of our carrying every article we have in our wagon and desires to ac company us as far as he can to defend and protect it yonder comes another fellow tottering under the weight of a knap-sack filled with treatises on polem ical divinity and a thousand sectarian controversies he ardently implored us to give room in the wagon for all that luggage ; but he was assured that if one half his tracts should be read on the road instead of proceeding in harmony togeth er there would be a general fight among the whole company ; after which when catholic and protestant had pommelled each other soundly the company would be separated into religious factions and would never reach their place of destina tion he was informed then if he would take along his knap-sack he must bear its weight and keep its contents to himself as the only tracts allowed to be carried in the wagon or disseminated on the march are those which inculcate religious toleration in its widest and most liberal sense and breathe no other spirit than peace on earth and good will among all men of all sects classes anel denominations i can sec also let me add a rival train with another wagon behind all these toiling hard to overtake ours and bound for the same country ; where they mean to settle as squatters for four years to come if they can reach it before us this wagon is a heavy lumbering vehicle be ing but a clumsy attempt to imitate a cel ebrated carriage which came into fash ion about the year 1800 the horses are old political hacks many of them being spavined and wind-broken and most of them sorely distressed with the thumps a disease contracted by them on the long journey up salt river four years ago â€” inside of this wagon you may see ponde rous safes and chests of iron upon which the brazen capitals are plainly legible the sub-treasury seperates the govern ment from the banks anel the people from their own money on many of these mas save chests we read hard money for the office-holders and bank rags for other people on the top of all them they seem to have piled ossa on pelian as if they designed to put all texas upon wheels including parts of the mexican states of santa fe chihuahua coohuila and tamaulipas ; the whole crowned with the texan tlebt of untold millions by the side of which on the other package you may read no assumption of our own state debts by our own government but the heaviest weight of all presses on the dri ver's box : where you may see james k polk of tennessee holding his nags four in hand ; while george m dallas sitting j by his side vainly plies a hickory gad to j the excoriated flanks of the jaded animals the driver sits on a cushion of enormous weight labelled free trade every part of this vehicle is of foreign manufacture the very wood of which it is made is of i foreign growth â€” even the horse shoes | were made by english blacksmiths ; the i harness is all manufactured out of eng lish leather by english harness-makers ; i all the wheel-tire the axle-trees and even the bridle-bits were imported from liver pool no american laborer whether na tive or naturalized was allowed to drive a nail into this wagon strapped up in the boot behind you may see a broken \ treaty with mexico covered over with i that black flag which mr butler in the late baltimore convention predicted would prove the funeral pall of a certain j concern whenever it should abandon the \ principle that a majority should govern a band of discarded office-holders and office '. hunters surround the wagon shouting at : the top of iheir lungs for free trade , and texas hard money and james k ' polk there is a little fellow the editor of a paltry newspaper blowing a penny j whistle labelled doun with all corpora ; tions while another of the same profes i sion grinds a hurdy-girdy to the old tune of bargain and corruption and the murdered coalition near these is another of the same trade riding on a donkey while he drums on the dead hide of the bank ofthe united states behind these comes off a concerto in which you may hear the praises of harmonivus de mocracy chanted amidst every variety of sound from the twanging of a jews-harp to the thruming of a banjo whether this assemblage shall ever proceed fur ther on their journey than that serbonian bog which lies near the sources of salt river i leave others to'conjecture pha roah pursued the israelites till he was swallowed in the red sea i feel too ; good natured just now to foretel the des tiny of james k polk and his followers but jesting apart let me return in all sober seriousness to the true question as i have already stated it â€” protection or no protection for the country â€” bread or no bread for the laborer it is no part of my ' purpose to discuss that question at length to enable others to understand it i have only to refer them to the last article in | the march number of blackwood's mag ; azine we may there learn how eng 1 lishmen reason among themselves when discoursing on follies of the visionary doctrine of free trade ; and we may also learn from it how much credit we should â– attach to articles of a contrary import written by englishmen for the american market english periodicals written for the purpose of being read by american \ citizens have done more injury to the cause of the american laborer than any equal number of publications on the same subject which have appeared in our coun ' try in connection with this subject my : â€¢ fellow-citizens let me say that there are not wanting in the ranks of our oppo nents men who have been bold enough to charge henry clay and theodore fre ; linghuysen the chosen champions of whig principles with having abandoned the protective policy by their votes for the compromise act of the 2d of march 1833 it is my duty to defend these my ! ; old associates in the public councils a j gainst so unjust an accusation ; and that ! , duty becomes peculiarly imperative upon j \ me when inquiries are constantly ad j ; dress to me as they have been of late in 1 ! regard to the true character of the votes ! | which they gave on that memorable oc 1 i casion i cannot answer all these inqui j 1 ries by letter i will therefore this day : : attempt to answer them here ; for i see j " a chiel's arnang us takin notes and faith he'll prent em ;" and i have reason to hope that his report ! of what i am about to say may reach those \ 1 who have addressed these inquiries to me i was in the senate at the time of the passage of the compromise act was a member of the committee which reported ! : it and had the best possible opportunity ' of knowing the motives and objects of mr \ clay in the introduction and passage of ! that measure his aim was not only to i prevent a civil war and the dissolution of â– the union but to save the protective ro \ licv i am convinced that but for the i i passage of that act the protective system j would have been substantially repealed ! more than ten years ago and every man ! ufacturer in the country dependent upon 'â– it stricken down i know that nothing is more common i than for us to hear certain individuals who j j are utterly ignorant of the real circum j : stances which existed in the early part of ; the year 1833 in a spirit of idle bravado \ boasting bravely they would have defied ' the threats ofthe nullifiers â€” how resolute 1 they would have proved themselves had the opportunity been offered them in hang ] ing up all the leaders of that faction and j how rejoiced they would have been in ad ministering through the swiftly willing ! agency of general jackson a salutary : castigation to what they term " the imbe : cile arrogance and bullying of south car olina these and similar remarks are : generally made for the purpose of intro | ducing a condemnation of mr clay for his agency in the passage of the compro mise act which they say was a sacrifice of the protective principle to prevent a i war with the nullifiers without doubt ing the courage or the sincerity of those : who thus often boast of the superior firm ness and more manly bearing which they : would have exhibted at that crisis i will endeavor briefly to show you that these gentlemen are ignorant both of the effect and meaning of the act as well as of the '. objects sought to be secured by its author it is quite a common error that the act 1 itself proposes a horizontal tariff of 20 per cent on all articles of importation as the minimum rate of duties and the final resting place at which the reduction of duties proposed by the act shall cease and stand unchanged and unchangeable forever at this day gentlemen of intel ligence professing to understand and dis cuss the legal effect of this act often speak of it as a law the great object of which was by a system of gradual diminution to reduce the duties as they stood under the act of 1832 to an universal levie of 20 per cent at the expiration of nine years and four months in other words regarded the compromise act as fix ing one rate for all dutiable articles from and after the 30th of june 1812 that rate being 20 per cent ad valorem ; and as containing certain binding stipula tions or pledge on the part of the authors of that law that no higher rate of duty should ever after that day be collected by the general government this supposi tion preposterous as it is you have doubt less observed is an opinion quite common ly expressed and that too by grave legis . lators on the floors of congress that the ; enemies of mr clay should have so ex i pressed themselves is a matter to be re ; gretted but when the friends of the tar i iff and the very men who profess the ut â€¢ most confidence in the rectitude and con â€¢ sistency of that great statesman fall into : the same error it is high time their mis take should be corrected it is perfectly true that the first section ! of the act fixes 20 per centum ad valorem ! as the lowest rate at which dutiable articles : should be admited after the 30th of june j 1842 ; but the third section of the act pro : vides that from and after that day duties '. upon imports shall be laid for the purpose | of raising such revenue as may be neces j sary to an economical administration of 1 the government ;" and also that such du ties shall be assessed on the home valuation and payable in cash the leading princi ! pies established by the act were first that : after the 30th of june 1842 a sufficient : revenue should be raised from import du ties alone to defray the expenses of the government ; â€” secondly,that no more rev enue should be so collected than should be demanded by an economical administra tion of the government ; thirdly that the best possible guards against frauds on the tariff should be established by the adop tion of the new system of assessing the duties on the home instead of the foreign value and making those duties payable in cash â€” whether these duties from which all the revenue for the support of govern ment was to be derived should be fixed at 20 per cent or at 50 per cent or any oth er rate was of course a subject left for the future consideration and action of con gress whenever it should be discovered that the minimum rate of 20 per cent adopted by the first section of the bill was insufficient for the support of govern ment nothing was further from the in tention of those who passed this law than to attempt to prevent further legislation discriminating with a view to home la i bour in the contingency of a defect of revenue from duties of 20 per cent i have ever regarded the tariff passed by the congress of 1842 as a substantial com i pliance in most respects with this pledge in the compromise act with this excep tion only : â€” thut law while it levies duties | on imports to support the government looks j to the proceeds of the sales of the public lands as an auxiliary for that purpose ; ; while the compromise act gave to me as i thought when i voted for it and to every other friend of the protection sys ; tern at the same time a solemn assurance ! that alter the 30th of june 1842 the : land fund should cease to be regarded '< as a source of revenue and that all the real wants of the government should be i supplied exclusively from duties on im ports assessed so as to prevent frauds and 1 payable in cash to understand this subject as it really \ was understood by those friends with whom i acted in the passage of the compromise \ act it is necessary to recur to some other proceedings contemporaneous with it mr i clay's bill to distribute the proceeds of the i sales of the public lands among the states | which passed both houses of congress a | bout the same time with the compromise i itself was by us regarded as part and par j eel of one great revenue and financial sys : tern which we desired to establish for the j benefit of the whole country while tem ! porarily surrendering the land fund to j the states to which it rightfully belong ! ed in the judgment of the congress of ' 1833 we provided in the compromise act | that there should be a day fixed at which in accordance with a suggestion previous ! ly made by general jackson himself the i land fund should forever cease to be re garded as a source of revenue by the gen â– eral government it is true that we should have acted more wisely as the event prov j ed by incorporating the provisions of a distribution bill in ihe compromise itself , but who could have supposed at that day '. that president jackson would have vetoed a bill which carried out his own sugges tion ? nevertheless he defeated that great and salutary measure of distribution by means which no end can ever justify he refused to return the bill with his objec tion to the house in which it originated i â€” unquestionably because he had reason ; to believe that had he complied with this . his constitutional duty each branch of congress stood ready by a vote of two thirds to make the bill a law in spite of his veto i have said that the tariff of 1842 is in my view a substantial compliance in most respects with the principles of the compromise act and the pledges given in that act on the subject of the regulation of duties from and after the 30th of june 1842 but it was not a compliance in all respects in my humble judgment had the tariff of 1842 been passed strictly in the spirit of the compromise itself it would have been a better tariff for protection that the law in force it would have bet ter guarded the revenue against frauds in the foreign valuation ; and it would more effectually have checked excessive impor tation which is one of the greatest curses of our country the distribution of the land fund among the states contempla ted by the compromise and temporarily provided for by the land bill would have put an end to the agitation of the ques tion of protection for ever ; and the prin ciple avowed and sustained by mr clay that in laying duties for revenue discrim ination should always be made in favor of protection as an incident to re venue would 1 have been the settled doctrine of the coun try to show that this opinion is well found ; ed let us suppose that congress on the ; 30th of june 1842 had resolved to make â€¢ a tariff strictly in pursuance of the com â– promise the latter directed that after : that day and not until after that day du ties should descend by a rapid reduction i not of 10 per cent but of the last half of j the w/tole excess above 20 per cent left af : ter the 31st of dec 1639 and that reduc tion be 20 per cent on the home value of i the imports unless at that time tbe reve | nue from rate of duty should be inade ! quate to support the administration of the government now how stood the facts on that day ? we had actually incurred a national debt of more than 520.000,000 | at that very time under the operations of j ; a higher tariff than 20 per cent and that ' too with the aid of all the land fund and ! bank stocks and bank dividends besides j ; our revenue had sunk so low that the j credit of the nation was at that very mo ] ment in the most deplorable condition â€¢ ' we had borrowed on that credit till for eigners would not lend us another dollar ' and in our own market the g per cent cer j titicates ofthe loan redeemable in twenty ! | years could not be sold to any considera ble amount for any thing like their par : value we had approached the very j verge of national bankruptcy and but for the whig revolution of 184u which had elected a whig congress to decide our | fate we should at that moment have been i in imminent peril of national repudiation i the depressed state of public credit was one of the contingencies anticipated by the friends of mr clay at the passage of the compromise and we now know we are , right we foresaw that the duties never could descend to 20 per cent if that pledge to raise the duties to the standard of the ! wants of the government given in the i act should be fulfilled ; and our hope â€” our , belief was that before they could descend by the operation of the law to 20 per ' cent men of all parties seeing that the i government could not be supported on ; that principle would confess old errors and join with us under happier auspices in so adjusting the tariff as that while i the wants of government would be sup ! ' plied from import duties ample protection i as incident to the revenue would be freely ] accorded to us without further strife if ' then congress had at that time raised the duties to the standard then fixed by the ] \ compromise we should have had a tariff i 'â– which would more effectually have pro j tected home labor than the act of 18 12 : because although the duties would have ; been for revenue with only incidental pro tection the very principle of the act of | 1812 yet those duties without the aid of other sources of revenue would have been . still higher than those of 1812 and their collection better guarded against frauds but the compromise act caused a grad : ual reduction of duties until the 30th of ; june 1842 and the question remains to '- be answered â€” *' why did the friends of protection to home labor consent to such a reduction even for a limited period l the answer might be a very short one l'nder the circumstances in which we i were then placed it was palpable to the i minds of those who voted for the compro ; mise that unless we accepted that ave should have to submit to the speedy de ' struction of the whole manufacturing ____- . terest but it is due to the subject that ; in the answer to this question the circum â– stances to which i have alluded should be briefly explained at the time of the pas \ sage of this law the violent opposition of ; many of our fellow-citizens in the south and of not a few elsewhere to the whole protective policy was unparalleled in the history of this country south carolina by her ordinance of nullification had openly defied the general government and resolved that no duties should be col lected within her limits it is easy at this day after the storm has passed over to speak of her resistance as a thing which could have been easily crushed by the ex hibition of a little firmness 1 have never doubted nor do i believe that mr clay or any of his friends ever doubted that the power of this government was amply suffi cient to enforce for the time the collection of the duties on imports in despite of all the threatened hostility of south carolina and all other enemies of the protective policy but it is due to truth to say that at that time south carolina had many , sympathisers and not a few adherents in other parts of the country we were ev ery day in danger of a collision which might terminate in bloodshed ; and in that event any man tolerably-acquainted with the american character could anticipate quite as well as i can now describe the imminent danger of a protracted and bloody contest which if it did not endanger the union as i firmly believe it would have done must have rendered the protective system hateful to our countrymen as the exciting cause of a civil war and incapa ble of being maintained except by the butchery of american citizens by ameri can hands 1 never did and do not now believe that any such system can be long maintained in a government bke ours if it cannot be upheld without a civil war the friends of the compromise in the firm belief that the protective policy was enti tled to the confidence and support of the american people and would grow up and establish itself in their affections if a vi ', olent civil strife could be avoided desired j of all things time â€” time for reason to resume her empire â€” time lor the vio â– lent passions of men then inflamed to the very verge of insanity to subside ; and they consented to a grandual reduc ' tion of duties for a limited period with a view to the ultimate safely of the protec tive principle itself as well as to avert the horrors of a civil conflict and to save the excited and deluded men who were rush ing into these extremities from the conse quences of their own folly in the midst ol all these considerations then pressing upon the attention of the friends of pro tection there was another staring us in the lace which is too often forgotten or overlooked at the very commencement ofthe session of that congress which pass ed the act president jackson in his an ' nual message threw off the cloak of a injudicious tariff and openly arrayed the whole power of the executive against the protective then for the first time we j heard from him the declaration that mex : perience our best guide on this as on oth | er subjects made it doubtful whether the advantages of this system are not counter balanced by many evils and whether it i did not tend to beget in the.minds of a large portion of our countrymen a spirit of discontent and jealousy dangerous to the , stability of iw union ;" â€” that a taritf de , signed for perpetual protection had enter j ed into the minds of but few of our states ; men and that the most they had anticipa i ted was a temporary protection ;" and j that those who took an enlarged view of j the condition of our country must be sat j isfied that the policy of protection must â€¢ be ultimately limited to those articles of , domestic manufacture which are indispen ' sable to our safety in time of war these and manv other declarations against the existing tariff in the president annual message almost instantaneously arrayed the : mass oi his party against the protective jtolicy â– throughout the whole country lt required no gifted seer to predict its late if some concilia ; tory measure were not speedily adored by its iriends to allay the existing excitement the ! president's message against the tariff was i communicated to congress at that session on ! the 4th of december and with such expedition ; did his party in the house of representative act on that occasion iu pursuance of his sugges : tions that on the 1-e-tli ol the same month the , committee of ways and means reported a bill to repeal the existing tariff and in lieu there of to collect a revenue of but 12,500,000 by ; all imposts on foreign merchandise the average ' duty on which as proposed in tbe l>ill was a unit ig per cent and that to be assessed ou the for eign valuation this hill which w as sometimes called mr ycrplanck's bill but which was real ly a measure emanating from the executive xvas actually far advanced uu its passage in the house at the lime the compromise was under consideration in the senate ; and its final pas sage in the house xvas no longer problematical ' it xvas a measure which if successful could not fail to prove au immediate death-blow to the whole protective policy its passage had been forced through the committee ofthe whole on the state ofthe union alter an ineffectual ef fort by the friends of american industry to im pede iis progress : w hen on the 2'dd of febru i ary 1833 the fiiends of protection in the sen ate made the last effort in their power to arrest ' its downxvard tendency and to stay for s long a j time as possible the hand xvhich xvas extended | for its destruction at that critical moment the j question jl_ with their new democratic doc ! trine of fi tr-friiilc all the leaders among 1 tliein are conscious that they cannot go ro trial before the country without incur ting inevitable defeat within the past rear the friends of the protective policy liav every where routed their opponents when this question has been raised in the lections our friends have unfrocked tl.e partisans and advocates of british in terests iu this nation they have torn the nasks from all the faces of those who pre fer english to americahlabor theshecp , kins have been stripped from their backs and the wolves now stand out in their naked deformity to insure our triumph in this great question our friends have at last adopied a determination upon which our welfare eminently depends to reject with scorn alliance with or assistance from all cow-boys and such as pretend to occupy a neutral position between the contending parlies ou this question this is a subject upon which the american people can no longer be deceived by pre tended friends or by enemies and at this moment you seethe foes ofthe a merican system conscious of their ap proaching destiny if the two issues shall besubmitted to the people a.re,every where endeavoring to direct public attention from it toother subjects presented for the purpose of exciting popular feeling let us guard against the wiles of our adver saries our situation at this time may be compared to that of a large family a bout io emigrate to the west we have on wagon belonging to our concern with an excellent team attached to it we can carry in it all that is really necessary for our safely and our happiness but we cannot carry every thing which the ca price or fancy of every member of the family may induce him to throw into it il we suffer every one to pile in among , our necessaries of life all the trumpery which he may have purchased to carry with him we shall soon find lhat there is nut room enough for a hundredth part of it and that one team is utterly unable to haul it in this state of things the only course left us as sensible men is to re strict the freight in the wagon to such things necessary to our safety and com fort as we can certainly transport but wc mill leave everyone who thinks he lias got the means ol transportation in dependently of us to lug along what he ileuses and we will promise not to fall out by the way or quarrel with any friend who may choose to go the journey with us because he thinks proper to load him self down wiih articles which we are un able or unwilling to carry the wagon anil the whole cavalcade are now before me about to start for the west henry flay the driver knows the road well and by his side sits theodore frelinghuysen who is a good guide and experienced tra veller himself inside ofthe wagon 1 see ihe proceeds of the series of he public lands with duties laid for protection to home-labor a sound currency an econom '